Young Hearts

A Belgian-Dutch coming-of-age film directed by Anthony Schatteman in 2024. The story follows 14-year-old Elias (Lou Goossens), living in the Belgian countryside, who befriends his new neighbor Alexander (Marius De Saeger), a confident boy from Brussels. As they grow closer, Alexander reveals he was in love with a boy and asks Elias if he has experienced true love, prompting Elias to reflect on his own feelings. For the first time, Elias begins to understand the depth of his emotions as he falls for Alexander. Fear of judgment and rejection wins out, though, and Elias denies what he feels, pulling away from Alexander, from his friends and from his own family to keep the truth hidden. Loneliness and regret follow, and the weight of those choices sits on him. His grandfather is the one who shifts something, telling him about the love he still carries for his late wife; that story gives Elias the nerve to face his fear. Love, he decides, matters too much to let slip away, so he goes back to Alexander and takes a brave first step toward accepting what he feels.